Menu

FOCUS

COVID-19’s impact on Latinx students: What education leaders need to know.

By Guadalupe Díaz Lara, Lisa M. López, R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez and Cynthia Garcia Coll
Categories: English learners, Equity, Leadership
December 2021
Latinx children and their families have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought long-standing economic, health, and educational disparities to the forefront (López, Barajas-Gonzales et al., 2020). Even before the pandemic, systemic racial and social inequities meant that Latinx students had less access to high-quality instruction and teaching than white students, were tracked into less rigorous courses, were met with lower expectations, and ultimately experienced opportunity gaps that hindered educational and economic development (U.S. Department of Education, 2021). The pandemic exacerbated these patterns (Fortuna et al., 2020). Teaching and learning don’t happen in a vacuum — school leaders must be cognizant of these needs and take steps to address them. Research suggests that school leaders should start by prioritizing professional learning

Read the remaining content with membership access. Join or log in below to continue.

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.

Log In
   

To learn more

For a detailed review of the research described in this article, see Addressing Inequities in Education: Considerations for Latinx Children and Youth in the Era of COVID-19, written by the authors for the Society for Research in Child Development’s special Statement of the Evidence on the impact of COVD-19.
bit.ly/3Ble78R

References

Barajas-Gonzalez, R.G., Ayón, C., Brabeck, K., Rojas-Flores, L., & Valdez, C. (2021). An ecological expansion of the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) framework to include threat and deprivation associated with U.S. immigration policies and enforcement practices: An examination of the Latinx immigrant experience. Social Science & Medicine. doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114126

Chen, Y. & Thomson, D. (2021). Child poverty increased nationally during COVID, especially among Latino and Black children. Child Trends. www.childtrends.org/publications/child-poverty-increased-nationally-during-covid-especially-among-latino-and-black-children

Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime. McKinsey & Company. www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/covid-19-and-student-learning-in-the-united-states-the-hurt-could-last-a-lifetime

Fortuna, L.R., Tolou-Shams, M., Robles-Ramamurthy, B., & Porche, M.V. (2020). Inequity and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color in the United States: The need for a trauma-informed social justice response. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 12(5), 443-445. dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000889

García, E. & Weiss, E. (2017, September 27). Education inequalities at the school starting gate: Gaps, trends, and strategies to address them. Economic Policy Institute. www.epi.org/publication/education-inequalities-at-the-school-starting-gate/

Gelatt, J., Capps. R., & Fix, M. (2021, January). Nearly 3 million U.S. citizens and legal immigrants initially excluded under the CARES Act are covered under the December 2020 COVID-19 stimulus. Migration Policy Institute. www.migrationpolicy.org/news/cares-act-excluded-citizens-immigrants-now-covered

Kohli, R., Pizarro, M., & Nevarez, A. (2017). The “new racism” of K-12 schools: Centering critical research on racism. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 182-202. 10.3102/0091732X16686949

López, L.M., Barajas-Gonzalez, R.G., Díaz, G., Moreno, F., & García Coll, C. (2020). Addressing inequities in education: Considerations for Latinx children and youth in the era of COVID-19 [Policy Brief]. Society for Research in Child Development. www.srcd.org/sites/default/files/resources/FINAL_AddressingInequalities-Latinx.pdf

López, L.M., Komaroff, E., Hammer, C.S., Rodriguez, B., Scarpino, S., Bitetti, D., & Goldstein, B. (2020). Are we all speaking the same language? Exploring language interactions in the homes of young Latino DLLs living in the U.S. Early Education and Development. doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1718473

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). (2017). Promoting the educational success of children and youth learning English: Promising futures. The National Academies Press. doi.org/10.17226/24677

National Center of Education Statistics. (2019, February). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups: Indicator 8: English language learners in public schools. nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_RBC.asp

National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM). (2020). Systemic racism disparities & COVID-19: Impacts on Latino health. nihcm.org/publications/systemic-racism-disparities-covid-19-impacts-on-latino-health

Osofsky, J.D. & Osofsky, H.J. (2018). Challenges in building child and family resilience after disasters. Journal of Family Social Work, 21(2), 115-128. doi.org/10.1080/10522158.2018.1427644

Osofsky, J.D., Osofsky, H.J., & Harris, W.W. (2007). Katrina’s children: Social policy considerations for children in disasters. Social Policy Report, 21, 3-18.

Padilla, C.M. & Thomson, D. (January, 2021). More than one in four Latino and Black households with children are experiencing three or more hardships during COVID-19. Child Trends. www.childtrends.org/publications/more-than-one-in-four-latino-and-black-households-with-children-are-experiencing-three-or-more-hardships-during-covid-19

Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE). (2020). Community needs assessment 2020. www.piqe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/PIQE2020_CommunityNeedsAssessment_Fall.pdf

Romano, S.D., Blackstock, A.J., Taylor, E.V., Felix, S.E.B., Adjei, S., Singleton, C., Fuld, J., Bruce, B.B., & Boehmer, T.K. (2021). Trends in racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalizations, by region – United States, March-December 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 70(15), 560-565.

Sanchez, G.R., Vargas, E.D., & Pedroza, A.A. (2020, July). Latino parent voices: What our families need now. Abriendo Puertas/Latino Decisions. nationalsurvey.ap-od.org

U.S. Department of Education. (2021). Education in a pandemic: The disparate impacts of COVID-19 on America’s students. Office for Civil Rights. www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/20210608-impacts-of-covid19.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021). Health disparities resource. www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/special-topics/health-disparities/resources/index.html


Image for aesthetic effect only - Lupediaz-scaled
+ posts

Guadalupe Díaz Lara (gdiaz-lara@fullerton.edu) is an assistant professor at California State University, Fullerton.

Image for aesthetic effect only - Lisa-lopez
+ posts

Lisa M. López (lmlopez@usf.edu) is a professor at the University of South Florida.

+ posts

R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez (ritagabriela.barajas-gonzalez@nyulangone.org) is an assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine.

+ posts

Cynthia Garcia Coll (cynthia.garciacoll@upr.edu) is an adjunct professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus, and Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor Emerita at Brown University.


Categories: English learners, Equity, Leadership

Search
The Learning Professional


Published Date

CURRENT ISSUE



  • Recent Issues

    WHERE TECHNOLOGY CAN TAKE US
    April 2024

    Technology is both a topic and a tool for professional learning. This...

    EVALUATING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
    February 2024

    How do you know your professional learning is working? This issue digs...

    TAKING THE NEXT STEP
    December 2023

    Professional learning can open up new roles and challenges and help...

    REACHING ALL LEARNERS
    October 2023

    Both special education and general education teachers need support to help...

    Skip to content